Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Turn About is Fair Play

So I just got the most interesting piece of email. It is something I am far more used to sending to other people than receiving it myself. Yes, I speak of the dreaded DMCA Notice. It seems that the fine folks over at Square-Enix have taken exception to the use of some of their characters. Namely ones from the Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy franchises. Turns out that the characters are copyrighted and are intellectual property. Who knew?!

So yanking those from the site within the standard 24 hour period. After tomorrow they ain't gonna be on the site or available for sale anymore. Now, now. Don't be angry with Square-Enix. They tend to make a good game, and are just protecting their copyright. And to be honest, I'm actually kinda flattered that I drew their attention. Yay for that I guess? :-?

25 comments:

1 said...

Well said.

Redrobot said...

So no more Lara and wolfie action?

Tantacel said...

Should definitely be flattered in a way MB, as they clearly think your art is so recognisable that it infringes the likeness of their characters.

That said, its a shame as the latest Lara set was excellent and it also means we won't ever see another Tifa set (which I rate as one of your best - people should go buy that now) nor a Rinoa set.

However I do look forward to Lauren the Grave Robber taking on giant beast dicks in future and a Tofa and Rynoan get mashed by Orange69 and his pals....

: )

Ghost said...

While you could certainly argue that your use is "parody" or fair use, it may well not be worth a legal battle with a large corporation and their army of lawyers...

Dizzydills said...

I am surprised they didn't just assume it was legit under the parody law. I guess you should be flattered though, of all the people on the internets that do Lara Croft pron, they chose you!

Cryotek said...

They're probably just butt-hurt cause they aren't the ones making the money off of it.

That being said, I think Tantacel put it best with "However I do look forward to Lauren the Grave Robber taking on giant beast dicks in future and a Tofa and Rynoan get mashed by Orange69 and his pals...."

Sad to never see a continuation of Tifa & Red's set, was definitely the best I've ever seen! :)

TheEye said...

I just have to ask you is there a chance before you remove them to make them free for download :D

Unknown said...

Can't you just change her name a little bit to be a parody? Or just call it fan art and give it out for free, I don't think there is a problem if you aren't making money from it.

MongoBongo said...

Eh... The stuff Epoch does is parody. However, my recent Lara set had the name, a damn good near-identical likeness (if I do say so myself), the franchise name, and their imagery/branding. That would be a rather hard sell as "parody". :-/

As for simply changing the names? No. They requested rather nicely that I cease and desist. It's only right and proper that I do so. They put alot of effort into creating their characters, if they don't like the way somebody else is using them they have the absolute right to enforce their copyright claims. I look at from their side. If somebody was pirating my work and I sent them a request to take it down, and all they did was change the name and keep on pirating it, I would be lividly pissed. So fair is fair.

As for making the sets available for free, I shall not. They asked that I "cease redistribution". So I shall kindly comply with their request in both letter and spirit. Though if somebody else were to make the sets available, I wouldn't put much (or any) effort into stopping it. After all, Square-Enix have proven themselves quite capable of policing their own copyright claims. :-P

Unknown said...

It's a testament to your work Mongo, I was talking with MM over e-mail and said that you nailed it for the look I mean your character was almost identical to the look of the in game one!

Well at least you had it up there a few weeks no doubt you made millions already and perhaps they were jealous that your sales were > than theirs?

Next one you do name the main character Cara Loft

lol ;)

Unknown said...

LOL im glad I bought it!! Is there ea black market for these set ;)

sumuner said...

did you also have to take down the other set with Larson or just the reboot?

Anonymous said...

that's a bummer to hear dude, you made some excellent sets with them. your boundless creativity will negate losing the characters anyway

also im jealous of that lawyer; gettin paid to carefully look through porn (for copyright infringement)

Anonymous said...

I'm no lawyer to give legal advice, but to my understanding, that's not how copyrights or the DMCA work. There's no doubt they own a copyright on their games, and a trademark or their characters. But I thought parody is supposed to be protected under fair use. You might see if you can get some help from a copyright lawyer, maybe the EFF.

sumuner said...

back about ten years ago there was a guy called svarog, and was pretty much the mongobongo of his time. anyways in his videos he used violator from the Todd McFarland Spawn comics I warned him about using that model but he kept using the model anyway. it didn't take long for his site to become a ghost site.

now I don't know if svarog's fate had anything to do with that but coincidence? I think not.

I agree with mongo on this. As much as it pains me that ill never see the Lara set, it would pain me more if we never saw anymore sets from mongo.

Anonymous said...

its a parody. they would lose in court.

MongoBongo said...

Guys, listen. I'm not really concerned about the legal definitions. The fact is that Square-Enix created and owns the characters. They asked me not to use their characters anymore. It's not a question of legality, it's just a matter of being decent and considerate.

Zafo said...

Dammit.
*looks at his finished Tifa character*

Jenny Poussin said...

You re a classy guy Mongo ... I really like that about you! :)

... oh ... that and also the fact you did an amazing Klingon gang-bang scene with yours truly! giggle ♥♥♥

Anonymous said...

Ghost and Dizzydills have the jist of it, but the parody fair use defense against copyright claims is strongest when the primary purpose is artistic in nature and weakest when it involves money. Most likely, the money-making aspect will defeat any fair use purpose.

Anonymous said...

Fighting lawyers takes money. Mongo is doing the right thing.

Though it annoys me that I was going to buy that Tifa set this week. Guess I better make sure I have the other sets I want.

Anonymous said...

The problem I have with Square-Enix doing this is that you are not encroaching, at all, on their market. Unless, of course, Square-Enix offers pictures of similar design.

Really, you can only add to their market, since people who find hot women on your sight may seek out the source material.

Anonymous said...

Couldn't you just re-release with the names changed? Wasn't able to get the set, anyone wanna share? :(

Zafo said...

I allso find it funny how they jumped on you while there is bunch of stuff arround
with actual ripped game model of lara.

Anonymous said...

I allso find it funny how they jumped on you while there is bunch of stuff arround
with actual ripped game model of lara.

Not so the only reason they did, is becouse Mongo charged for his Lara sets period. They may say otherwise ofcourse, and like you already said there is plenty artists who do Lara. For example you can look the best of them Detomasso, he is so damm good and nobody bothered him becouse he didn't make any $ of it.
And if I forgot to mention he only do Lara.

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